Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
13-9 (7-3OVC)
Jacksonville State
11-12 (4-6OVC)
Giustino Reaches 1,000 Kills as Racers Outlast Jacksonville State
10/20/2018 6:48:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
For the seventh-straight match, the Murray State volleyball team left the court victorious, this time defeating Jacksonville State in five sets at Racer Arena.
The Racers improve to 13-9 overall and 7-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference while the Gamecocks fall to 11-12 and 4-6 in the OVC.
Junior Rachel Giustino reached a career milestone in the third set as she tallied her 1,000th career kill, becoming just the 14th Racer in program history to reach the mark. She had 16 kills in the match and added 15 digs for her tenth straight double-double.
Senior Dacia Brown led Murray State with a career-high 20 kills while hitting .396 and sophomore Katirah Johnson racked up 10 kills at a team-high .409 clip. Sophomore Ashley McBee set a new career-high with 53 assists while classmate Becca Fernandez led the Racers with 19 digs.
The Racers put on their best blocking performance of the season, tallying 14 in the match. McBee, Johnson, and redshirt-freshman Kolby McClelland each had six block assists while junior Rachel Holthaus added four of her own.
Jacksonville State came out hot in the first set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead early and held onto it the rest of the way. Murray State was never able to get a rally going as the Gamecocks won the set, 25-18.
The second set went back-and-forth for a while until the Racers won three straight points to take a 19-17 lead. However, JSU responded to tie the set at 21, but Murray State answered with a 3-1 run, culminating with a kill from Holthaus, to win the set, 25-22.
The Racers used the momentum from the end of the previous set to start strong in the third, jumping out to a 10-5 lead. After a couple of points by the Gamecocks, MSU went on a 5-1 run to extend their lead to 15-8. A 6-0 run, which included three blocks by McClelland, put the Racers up 10 at 22-12 in the set, which they eventually won 25-13 on a kill by Giustino.
It looked like Murray State would win the match in four sets as they held onto a 22-16 lead, but the Gamecocks went on a 6-0 run to tie the set. Brown stopped the run with a kill to give the Racers the lead back, but three straight points by Jacksonville State gave them the set, 25-23.
In the first fifth set of the season at Racer Arena, the score was tied a six midway through the set, but MSU took control with a 4-0 run to go up 10-6. JSU never got closer than three the rest of the way as the Racers eventually won the set, 15-10, and the match on a kill by Johnson. After losing its first two five-set matches this season, Murray State has now won two straight.
The Racers are back in action at Racer Arena, next weekend, when they take on Southeast Missouri, Friday at 7 p.m. and UT Martin, Saturday at 11 a.m. as part of Homecoming Weekend. The Racers will look to avenge losses to both the Redhawks and the Skyhawks earlier in the season.
